REMARKS AS
PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION RODNEY E. SLATER
DELTA LISTENING SESSION, BATON ROUGE
OCTOBER 1, 1999
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
Delighted to be in Baton Rouge -- on the historic campus of Southern University -- for our second Delta Listening Session.
I thank Chancellor Edward Jackson and the students, faculty and staff for allowing us the use of the Smith Brown Memorial Student Union.
For more than a century, this distinguished land-grant university has been opening doors of opportunity -- equipping every student with the needed tools to achieve greatness.
One of the crown jewels of our Historically Black Colleges and Universities -- Southern University graduates more African-American engineers, computer scientists, and mathematicians than any other university in the nation.
Today, we’ve had an extraordinary listening session, and we have accomplished much. I thank you for your participation, for rolling up your sleeves and getting down to the business at hand --- the business of defining the Delta’s next steps for continued success.
We came here today to engage you -- the people who live and work here -- who know best what needs to be done.
I believe what we do today will help the people of the Mississippi Delta reach even higher heights at the dawn of a new century and a new millennium.
Clearly, our most famous native son, President Clinton, is this region’s strongest supporter -- our greatest advocate.
Six and half years ago, President Clinton and Vice President Gore put in place a new economic strategy to successfully move the American people into the new century and the new millennium.
We are seeing the benefits of the Clinton-Gore Administration’s commitment to advance economic opportunity in the Mississippi Delta Region.
Unemployment, while still above the national average in many areas, is on the decline. President Clinton’s Workforce Investment Act of 1998 is providing record opportunity. Infant mortality is down and we are seeing successes inside the classroom. Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities grants are helping to build sustainable communities.
We are connecting the people of the Delta to opportunity -- to a better quality of life.
Here in Louisiana, we are helping the rural poor make the critical transition from poverty to self-sufficiency. Louisiana received more than $2 million from the Job Access and Reverse Commute program, to connect low-income residents to jobs in hard to reach locations. As Vice President Gore has often said, "you can’t go to work if you can’t get to work."
Last year 426 people died in alcohol-related crashes in this state. That is why, today I am announcing a $1 million cooperative agreement between the U.S. Department of Transportation and the state of Louisiana to reduce alcohol-related crashes. We can and must reduce these tragedies -- this grant will help us get there.
Math and reading scores are on the rise in the Delta. To continue those classroom successes, President Clinton and Education Secretary Riley yesterday announced $350 million in Title I funds for the Delta Region.
Baton Rouge’s transportation system is seeing tremendous growth. The Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport is undergoing an aggressive renovation program. In the last five years, the airport has received $28.4 million in federal funds for expansion.
The 4-mile widening of Interstate’s 10 and 12 from Acadian Thruway to Airline Highway - a $69 million project – is expected to be completed by January 2000.
Under the DOT’s Borders and Corridors program, the Delta Region was awarded a $10 million grant for environmental studies of proposed I-69 corridor. It will be one of this nation’s major economic development investments of the 21st century and the Delta Region is well positioned to reap the benefits.
These are just a few of the many great stories we are witnessing in the Mississippi Delta.
You can read more about these success in The Mississippi Delta: Beyond 2000 -- our interim report released a week ago Thursday. You should already have a copy. You can also find the report on our new web site, www.dot.gov/delta. The site links you to the many federal agencies involved in this initiative. And we have a toll-free number, 1-888-273-4117.
Clearly, our progress has been considerable. But, "we have miles to go before we sleep." As the President often says, this is not a time for complacency -- not a time to rest, but a time to build.
We still have too many families living in poor rural areas. These stubborn pockets of poverty must be included in America’s bounty.
Our challenge is to find ways to connect rural communities here in the Delta Region -- and across America -- to opportunity so that they, too, can realize the American dream.
President Clinton and Vice President Gore are working hard to ensure that as we go into the 21st century no community -- no American -- will be left behind.
In the 1960's government didn’t have all the answers. In the 1980's, the market didn’t either; our economy moved forward, but more and more Americans were left behind.
President Clinton’s and Vice President Gore’s New Markets Initiative is a third way -- government and business work together to inject new capital, new investment, and new opportunity into hard-pressed communities. Transportation plays a critical role in this initiative. There is a direct correlation between transportation and economic growth; investments in infrastructure translate into investments in people. It is the tie that binds.
The connection between transportation investment and the creation of new market opportunities for job creation is both immediate and direct.
I often say that transportation is about so much more than concrete, asphalt and steel -- it is about people.
Let me close on this. Under President Clinton’s and Vice President Gore's leadership, this country is fundamentally a better, fairer place than it was a generation ago. But we have "miles to go before we sleep."
Much work remains to be done to bring sustained opportunity and hope to all of the people of the Mississippi Delta Region. Our goal for today’s listening session, and in Vicksburg tomorrow and Cape Girardeau on Monday, is to outline a blueprint for success in 2000 and beyond.
We must continue to move from strength to strength, working together to provide all of our people with greater opportunities to lead safer, happier, more fulfilling lives.
We, as a nation, can move into a period of limitless opportunity if we are ready, if we are prepared -- limitless opportunity in a new century and a new millennium. Let us march forward together -- strong and courageous and with the understanding that if we seek, we shall find, if we ask and give, we shall receive.
And know this, that by working together at the dawn of a new century and new millennium, we can ensure that the Delta Region’s best days -- America's best days -- are yet ahead of us.
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